Diseases and accidents which disfigure the body are occurrences which are unfortunately all too frequent. In times past, many of these diseases and accidents proved fatal, but modern medicine has seen tremendous strides made in the recovery of victims of such accidents and/or diseases. However, there remains the problem of the resulting disfigurement, which most persons wish to correct in some way.
All persons are concerned with their physical appearance, at least to a certain extent, and various prosthetic devices have been developed in order to afford afflicted persons an essentially normal appearance. One group of people who have been particularly affected by the disfigurement resulting from disease, is women who have been so unfortunate as to incur breast cancer. The radical medical cure is the removal of one or both breasts and often much of the surrounding tissue, which procedure obviously results in severe disfigurement. The resulting disfigurement is even more unfortunate than in times past, due to modern clothing styles which tend to be lighter and more revealing than in generations past.
To overcome such breast disfigurement, various breast prostheses have been developed which may be worn beneath a woman's clothing adjacent to the body. The most realistic of these prostheses are formed of a relatively viscous silicone gel, which gel is contained in an appropriately shaped and colored enclosure which serves to simulate a human female breast. These prostheses provide many advantages over other types, in that the silicone gel is approximately the same density as the fatty tissues of the normal human female breast, and the relatively viscous nature of the silicone gel provides a texture and resilience closely approximating that of a normal human female breast. Other padded or otherwise constructed breast prostheses fail to achieve such realism.
As with most articles which provide advances over the prior art, such silicone filled breast prostheses are also prone to various disadvantages. They are relatively costly in comparison to other less realistic types, and in some ways they are more susceptible to damage. Nevertheless, they have proven very popular with thousands of women due to their realism. However, a small tear or puncture of the outer containment vessel of the prosthesis may be fatal to the device, due to the fluid nature of the silicone gel used to fill the prosthesis. While many women have temporarily repaired such damaged silicon prostheses with an adhesive tape of some form, the results are far from satisfactory due to the general wide variation in texture and color between the tape and the surface of the prosthesis. Some might consider the use of an adhesive bandage as a repair, but the nature of the gauze or other padding of the bandage renders it unsatisfactory for such repairs as the silicone gel may leak from the area of the bandage pad. Moreover, the relative thickness of the bandage pad produces an unsightly lump at the point of application.
The need arises for a kit or system for the repair of externally worn silicone breast prostheses. The repair apparatus should provide a relatively thin and flexible plastic sheet which will not produce any unevenness or bulges at the place of application, and should provide for a variety of flesh tones or colors in order that a close match may be made. The repair must be capable of being quickly and easily applied, and such a kit should be relatively thin and lightweight in order that a woman may easily carry it in her pocket without undue annoyance due to excessive bulk. The kit should also contain a variety of various sizes and shapes of adhesive patches, in order that a reasonably suitably sized and shaped patch may be selected for a given damaged area of the prosthesis.